1. Field
The disclosed aspects relate generally to communications between and/or within devices and specifically to methods and systems for improving selection of a near field communication (NFC) radio frequency (RF) discovery loop based on one or more measurements obtained from one or more sensors associated with a NFC device.
2. Background
Advances in technology have resulted in smaller and more powerful personal computing devices. For example, there currently exist a variety of portable personal computing devices, including wireless computing devices, such as portable wireless telephones, personal digital assistants (PDAs) and paging devices that are each small, lightweight, and can be easily carried by users. More specifically, the portable wireless telephones, for example, further include cellular telephones that communicate voice and data packets over wireless networks. Many such cellular telephones are being manufactured with relatively large increases in computing capabilities, and as such, are becoming tantamount to small personal computers and hand-held PDAs. Further, such devices are being manufactured to enable communications using a variety of frequencies and applicable coverage areas, such as cellular communications, wireless local area network (WLAN) communications, NFC, etc.
Current NFC Forum specifications describe a RF discovery loop that, once enabled, alternates between states in which an NFC device is in a polling mode and in a listening mode. The NFC Device Host (DH) is responsible for configuring parameters that control RF discovery. Such parameters include control of the number of times different RF technologies are polled for, and a portion of the remaining time during which the NFC device listens for remote polling devices. In the current NFC Forum NCI specification, once NFC is activated on a device, the DH will configure then start RF discovery, and that this will be continue to be the case until the user turns off NFC (other than any periods during which it is connected to a remote NFC endpoint). This process requires a designer to choose between higher power consumption and longer delays in establishing NFC connections, either of which diminishes a user's experience. The current NFC Forum NCI specification does not provide any mechanism by which a NFC enabled device may tune the RF discovery process to improve user experience.
Thus, improved apparatus and methods for improving selection of a near field communication (NFC) radio frequency (RF) discovery loop based on one or more measurements obtained from one or more sensors associated with a NFC device may be desired.